I didn't get it with my
M4P - having bought a big expensive EUC only a little while before it, funds were a little low at the time of purchase, and we'll see if that comes back to bite me ! I also took into account my 11 years of remote pilot (and general DJI) XP when deciding, and I believe that I am a careful, diligent pilot on the whole, so it was something of a measured risk not to get it - I
should be able to avoid the various 'new pilot traps' that await the uninitiated ! So far I am 50 (or so) flights in with no crashes or problems so far, (bar the little mishap below), which I should mention because we can maybe learn something from it !
On day 2 of learning-the-craft / test flights with the
M4P, at the end of a flight my
M4P told me its IMU needed calibration, and surprised by this I tried that 'in the field' so to speak, forgot that I needed to rotate the craft several times for that to complete, causing it to indefinitely pause at 95%, at which point idiot me decided that if I rebooted it and didn't get the message again it 'might be fine' ! :/
It wasn't fine, and although there was no further message, and I could take off OK, as soon as we started moving we began the inevitable pendulum sway of death that you get with IMU miscalibration, but fortunately sense and XP had kicked back in by then so I was ready to just wait til it was over long grass and kill motors from 1 ft above ground, saving the craft for another day. My point being that even tho my 11 years of XP saved me from an expensive repair, because I knew what to do in the event of an IMU fail, it notably didn't stop me making a massively basic error in the first place DESPITE having watched at least 3 videos on how to calibrate the IMU before I even bought the craft !
Dear oh dear; so much for pre-purchase research ! Touch wood, I haven't done anything similarly stupid since !
But I think I do have to admit; If I'd had a surfeit of cash at the time I bought the craft I would have got DJI refresh. When work picks up again I may consider coverdrone insurance, which isn't as seamless as the DJ experience, but is available from any start point, and similarly priced.
